IRS Scam

At 7:30 this morning, our phone rang. No one we know or are related to would call us at this time. I mean, 7:30? To us retired folk, that’s almost the dead of night. CVS sometimes calls at strange times, but that’s always a computer voice telling us a prescription is ready. And now that we’re in the silly season regarding elections both large and small, we sometimes get an automated computer call about donating money or pledging a vote. But instead of ignoring it, now that I was fully awake, I took the call. After all, it might have been about the death or injury of a friend or relative. It wasn't a computer call and it wasn't that dreaded call about a loved one's injury. It was a call from someone purporting to be with the IRS. A woman, nearly unintelligible with a heavy Hispanic accent, said something about back taxes, that we supposedly owed money from a few years past. I didn’t really understand what she was saying because of the accent, but I kept listening. I wanted to keep her on the line long enough to find out what exactly she wanted me to do, but then she told me that I would be arrested if I ignored her request. She asked me which I would rather do—continue with her call or wait to be arrested within forty-five minutes. I said I guess I’d wait to be arrested, at which point she hung up. I dialed *69 to get the number, 786-358-0951, the area code for Miami. So I called back and was immediately connected to the same woman. Now, I ask you, when was the last time you called a corporation or governmental office and actually spoke to a live person and didn’t have to sit there listening to “hold” music? Yeah, maybe 1960, probably never. I hung up on her before she could again tell me I was going to be arrested. I went on-line to see about IRS scams and found out that millions of calls, especially around tax time, are made concerning taxes due, with threats of arrest or deportation if payment isn’t made, that some $14,000,000 has been scammed since 2013. I find it almost unbelievable that anyone receiving such a call would actually fall for it and give them a debit or credit card number. But then, H. L. Mencken said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” And P. T. Barnum supposedly said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” And scammers never tire in their pursuit of sucker money. Oh, and by the way, no policemen ever showed up at my door to put the cuffs on me and lead me off to jail.